Most Of The News
All The Time
THE STATE PORT PILOT
A Good Newspaper In A Good Community
The Pilot Covers
Brunswick County
Volume No. 20
No. 6
8-Pages Today
SOUTHPORT, N. C.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 1959
5c A COPY
PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY
Bigger Volume,
Better Quality
In Weed Sales
Columbus County Markets !
Report $58.27 Average
In Sales Through Friday
Of Last Week
ALL MARKETS OFF
IN TOTAL POUNDS
Whiteville Market Had The
First Million Pound Sell
ing Day Of Season
Last Week
Dollars with a capital D began
rolling through the Border Belt
in larger style last week, as
pounds with a capital P, also be
gan flowing in.
Here in Columbus county, the
trading heart of the Border Belt,
the overall picture became con
siderably brighter as quality
poundage began showing gains.
Sold so far for the four mar
kets in the county have been 15,
614,757 pounds for $9,199,714 or
a $58.27 average. The Border
market has sold 36,258,833 pounds
for $21,192,005.
All markets have suffered in
poundage this season, U. S. De
partment of Agriculture reports
indicate. The Columbus markets
have been off about 20 percent
so far. Evenso smaller flue-cured
Stabilization loans have meant
less than 10 percent actual sales
difference.
For Whiteville, the largest of
county’s markets, poundage
through Friday, the 12th selling
day stood at 8,044,641 pounds
for $4,666,916 or a $58.01 aver
age.
The Whiteville market last
week experienced its first mil- |
lion pounds day, Thursday. It was
repeated again Friday. At the
same point the' year before there
had been six million pounds days.
For Whiteville in 1958, pound
age was 10.748,742 at the end of
12 days, with a gross of $6,
534,608.
Chadboum, this year has sold
2,934,438 pounds for $1,781,301
or a $60.70 average. This com
pares to last year at 3,273,610
pounds for a $60.83 average.
Tabor City now has 2,657,904
pounds for $1,589,188 or $59.79
average. Last year it was 3,113,
564 pounds for $60.85.
Fair Bluff now has 1,977,774
pounds sold for $1,162,309 or a
$58.77 average. Against this last
year it was 2,827,292 pounds for
a $60.37 average.
Grade by grade prices have re
mained strong, particularly in
the pooer leafs, on all markets.
But all have reported large vol
umes of pooer quality. This has
been particularly noticeable at
Whiteville which has disposed of
a tremendously large amount of
droughty leaf, and less so at
Tabor City and Chadboum, which
have had proportionately less
amounts of the low leaf.
A decided change in the quality
of leaf last week appeared on
the markets all over the Border
and South Carolina markets, ac
cording to USD A.
The change is expected to fol
low through this week, and con
tinue to improve.
USDA reports, “deliveries to
markets were fairly heavy. Sev
eral markets reported blocked
sales the latter part of the week.
“Heavy sales are expected to
(Continued on Page 2)
Brief Bits Of
lnewsj
BENEFIT DANCE
Billy Melton and his orchestra
will play for a dance at the Com
munity Building on Saturday,
August 29, sponsored by the Live
Oak Garden Club.
ATTENDING CAMP
Misses Donna Prevatte and
Martha Harrelson will return
home this week-end after spend
ing two weeks at Camp Rainbow
at Banner Elk.
LIONS TO MEET
The regular meeting of the
Southport Lions Club will be held
tomorrow (Thursday) evening in
the Community Building at 6:30
o’clock.
OCCUPY APARTMENTS
Mrs. Maxine Fulcher and Mrs.
Virginia Walton have moved into
the Woodside apartments in the
Carolina House on the water
front.
ATTEND MISSIONS SCHOOL
Mrs. James M. Harper, Jr. Mrs.
Lawrence Bridges and Mrs. E. H.
Arrington of Southport, Mrs. Rob
ert McDougald and Mrs. Mills of
Town Creek are attending the
Annual School of Missions this
week in Durham.
Visiting Fishermen
ANGLERS--These men were visitors in Soulhport early this month on a trip sponsored by the
Washington-Wilbert Vault Co. of Rockville, Md., o f which R. H. Wood is president. They are engag
ed in the mortuary business and their visit here ivas made in a double-decked, air conditioned
chartered bus that attracted considerable attenti on when it was parked in front of Franklin Park
Motel, where they stayed. They had their meals a t Quacks Sea Shack, and they went out for two
days on the three boats of the Watts Charterboa t Fleet, the Idle On II, Idle On III and Idle On IV.
This is an annual event. In fact, this last trip was so successful that another has been arranged
for the Labor Day week-end.— (Huntley Photo.)
Local Citizens
Report Seeing
Rocket Friday
Residents In All Parts Of
Brunswick Saw Strange
Object In Southwestern
Sky Friday Evening
Scores of Brunswick county
residents saw the firey trail of
Juno II as it arched across the
Friday evening after being
launched at Cape Canaveral.
This missile was described as
being an inflatable 12-foot sphere,
and the report was that it failed
to go into orbit.
First signs of the strange
heavenly object came about 7:30
Friday evening when a big ball of
fire erupted from a cloud of
smoke in the Southwestern sky.
At first it appeared to be ellipti
cal in shape, but then as it pass
ed on toward the Northeast, it
looked more like a shooting star,
although occasionally it gave off
a glow that resembled the tail
of a comet.
The burst of smoke apparently
resulted from an explosion that
represented a second or third
stage in its launching. The cloud
remained stationary while the
missile continued on in its filght.
Among the local residents who
saw this spectacular display was
Clyde Newton, who declared that
"It looked like the moon coming
out of a celophane bag.” Dan
Harrelson and Ernest Parker also
saw the object flare across the
sky.
Folks down at Shallotte also
saw the missile, and Mrs. Harry
White reported that it was clear
ly visible from her home at Shal
lotte Point.
A > second spectacular display
occurred during the early mor
ning hours Monday, when the sky
discoloration missile was fired
from a point in Virginia about
4:40 a. m. Capt. Fred Willing
was piloting a ship up the river
and had a good view as the sky
took on an orange glow. A re
peat performance of this launch
ing on Tuesday evening failed.
Rourk Speaker
At Ocean Drive
Shallotte Physician Is Prin
cipal Speaker At Thurs
day Evening Meeting Of
Lions Club
The Thursday night meeting of
the Ocean Drive Beach Lions Club
was highlighted by an address by
Dr. Henderson Rourk, prominent
Shallotte physician and business
man. The former Lions District
Governor spoke on the them “Are
We Measuring Up”.
Rourk, who is now serving as
Lions International Counselor,
prefaced his remarks by giving a
summary of the recently held In
ternational convention in New
York City.
Speaking with deep conviction,
attested by a 13 year perfect at
tendance record, Rourk cited the
need for Lions to become even
more service-minded. He termed
Lionism as a sort of religion that
Continued On Page Five
Name Slate For
Coming Election
New Policeman
Reports For Duty
James F. (Foxie) Howard
assumed his duties as chief
of police for the City of
Southport Tuesday, succeed
ing Louis Clark in that posi
tion. Charlie Johnson will re
main as assistant chief.
Howard had 9 years experi
ence in law enforcement
while in the Army, where he
was special agent with Army
Intelligence. His special field
was in the operation of lie
detector apparatus. In addi
tion to his Army service,
Howard was in the Marine
Corps for 3 years during
World War H.
His wife is the former Miss
Vera Jorgenson of Southport,
and the family has moved
into the Walton home on
Moore street.
Family Returns
From Charlotte
Miller Family Returns To
Clarendon Plantation Fol
lowing Flurry Of Excite
ment Attending Birth Of
Triplets
The family whose way of life
was rudely upset last month with
the arrival of triplets is back in
Brunswick after living for a few
weeks near Charlotte.
Nathan Miller and his folks
moved back to Clarendon Plan
tation ' Tuesday after he decided
that he was better off working
for his old boss, Cornelius
Thomas, than he was on the job
that he had been given in order
to provide a higher income for
his family following the sudden,
great increase.
Miller caused a stir seven
weeks ago when he said he might
have to offer the new-born trip
lets for adoption because he
could not support them. Instead
he accepted a job on an egg
producing farm in Mecklenburg
county.
But the 55-year-old Miller ad
mitted Monday that all that glit
ters is not gold. “My family just
ain’t satisfied, that’s all. And
there’s a heap of walking in this
egg job from one building to an
other and I've got bad legs that
I get a little bit of pension for.
In my other job I rode a tractor
mostly.”
Paul Jones who owns the egg
farm said the Millers would carry
with them more than $1,000 in
! cash contributions, donated house
furnishings, clothing, and about a
two-year supply of baby food.
“We have to give it up as a
bad job,” said Jones, who gave
Miller a $200 monthly salary, a
rent-free home with all utilities
and a free chicken and egg diet.
Continued On rag* Five
Community Election Boards
Offer Slate Of Candidates
From Each Township,
With Other Nominations
Possible
ELECTION TO BE
HELD SEPTEMBER 10
Farmers Have This Week
In Which To Nominate
Other Candidates By
Use Of Petition
Community election boards met
in the ASC office in Shallotte
last week and made their nomi
nations for community committee
men for the committee election
which will be held on September
10.
If there are other nominations
that farmers wish to make, they
must do so by August 25. Ten
eligible voters in a community
may petition the chairman of the
community election board by this
date and add additional candi
dates. After August 25, if no ad
ditional eligible candidates are
added by petition, the official
ballot will be run including only
the candidates selected by the
election boards.
Listed below are the candidates
selected by the community elec
tion boards:
Lockwoods Folly: Herbert
Gray, McKinley Hewett, Edwin
Sellers, Stanton Brown, George
Brown, Floyd Hewett, A. E. Cal
lender, Herbert Royals, David
Sellers, Robert Hawes.
Northwest: C. C. Chinnis, Fran
Continued On Page Five
Clearance Work
Still Incomplete
In This County
Brunswick Is One Of Coun
ties In Which Stream
Clearance Program Still
Has Work To Be Done
WEATHER CONDITIONS
IMPORTANT FACTOR
Reports From Areas Parti
cipating Indicate Improve
ment In Drainage
Conditions
Last winter’s icy weather and
prolonged summer rains imposed
intolerable delays on the Federal
Civil Defense administration’s
$400,000 stream clearance pro
gram in 22 counties and one town
in the coastal plain, the Corps
of Engineers reports.
So far the program is 85 per
cent complete with all work fin
ished in 15 counties and the town
of Clinton, while spotted projects
are still under way in the remain
ing seven counties.
“We are behind but with rea
sonable weather all work should
be completed by October 15”,
says Col. H. C. Rowland, Jr.,
Corps of Engineers district en
gineer.
The Corps is performing the
work for FCDA by contract to
private enterprise. It involves the
removal of debris swept irfto
creeks and the like by hurricanes.
Colonel Rowland’s report says
all work is compete in the follow
ing counties: Beaufort, Camden,
Columbus, Craven, Currituck,
Duplin, Hyde, Jones, Onslow, Pas
quotank, Perquimans, Tyrrell,
Washington, Wayne and Wilson.
The seven counties which com
prise the final 15 percent of the
clearance program are: Bladen,
95 percent complete; Brunswick,
97; Hertfort, 93, Lenoir, 98; Pen
der, 90; Sampson, 50; and Greene,
only 30 percent complete. Greene
county’s only project, Contentnea
creek, has been held up repeated
ly by “too much water to work”.
Reports from over the area in
dicate that people affected by the
program are well pleased with
what has been done. Some say the
(Continued on page four)
Recorder Has
Busy Session
Variety Of Cases Disposed
Of Before Judge Earl
Bellamy In Brunswick
County Recorder’s Court
Monday
Monday was a busy day in
Brunswick county Recorder’s
court, and among the cases dis
posed of before Judge Earl Bell
amy were the following:
Evangeline King, Lillie May
Ray and Eva May Washington
were charged with assault with
a deadly weapon. Each was given
8 months on the roads, suspended
upon payment of certain charges
at the hospital and a fine of $25
each. They all gave notice of
appeal.
Charges of larceny of an auto
mobile against Armond Caison
and Corbett Elliott were adjudged
to be frivilous and malicious.
Probable cause was found
against Nathaniel Hill for bur
glary and breaking and entering
and bond was set at $10,000.
TIME and TIDE
By JIMMIE HAKflSK
The Pilot of August 16, 1939, announced that a “mass fleet”
of three charter boats were preparing for an invasion of Gulf
Stream waters lying off Southport. The quest: Big game fish
barracuda, amberjack and dolphin. W. R. McAuley was in charge
of a highway crew which was widening the street out to the
Sawdust Trail intersection, but rain had interferred more than a
little. Arrangements were complete for the merger of the North
ern Columbus area with the Brunswick Electric Membership
Corporation.
These were the days when the Vanderbilt yacht Alva stopped
over in Southport each year, and two local men, R. i. Mintz and
W. B. Keziah, had been invited aboard this palatial craft. Six
twin-motor seaplanes were based here that week during bomb
ing practice offshore, as Southport took on a pre-war military
look. J. M. Davidson of Greensboro had caught a West Indies
earner shark while fishing off Bald Head; the “Marvelous Mid
get with the Mighty Midriff” had put on a free show on a
downtown street corner; and a society page item reported a re
cent session of the Pinochle Club.
It was August, 1944, and an aftermath of the recent storm (of
hurricane force was that a big tree blew down in the yard at
the home of Charlie Sellers near Winnabow, then when the wind
shifted it blew it back up again! A longer duck hunting season
was promised for the coming fall 80 days, in faot; but this held
little: promise for the nimrods, who in those days were having
trouble rounding up ammunition—civilian type that is
W. S. Wells had bought a new “jumbo trawler,” a big boat
that was constructed at Mayport, Fla. Talniadge Varnum was
Continued On Page Two
4
Davidson To Head
District Engineers
Reports For Duty In Wil-i
mington Prior To Depart
ure Of Col. Henry C.
Rowland From This Area
Col. Richard P. Davidson ar
rived in Wilmington Monday pre
paratory to taking over as district
engineer of the Corps of En
gineers Wilmington district.
The Wilmington district serves
much of the extreme east end of
Columbus County. The bulk of
the county is under the Charles
ton, S. C. office.
Col. Davidson will succeed Col.
Henry C. Rowland, Jr., who has
filled the district engineer post
since August 1956.
Colonel Rowland plans to go on
terminal leave August 21 and will
retire from the Army Sept. 30
after over 22 years of service
with the Corps of Engineers.
The incoming district engineer
was born in Detroit, Ala, March
6, 1911 and was commissioned as
a reserve officer in the Corps of
Engineers in 1937 after attending
the University of Alabama.
He entered active duty in 1941
and served in the southwest Paci
fic during World War XI.
After World War XI, Davidson,
through 1948 was at the Engineer
School, as chief, operations group,
as asssitant director of courses,
and then as director of courses.
He then was assigned to Camp
Gordon, Ga., as commanding of
ficer, 924th Engineer group, after
which he attended the Command
COL. DAVIDSON
l
| and General Staff college, Fort
Leavenworth, Kan.
From 1950 to 1952 Davidson
served in the Garrison district,
Riverdale, N. D., first as chief,
town management division, and
then as assistant district engineer.
From 1952 to 1955 he was ex
ecutive officer, later assistant dis
trict engineer, East Atlantic dis
trict, French Morroco.
He then attended the Armed
Forces Staff college, Norfolk, Va.
From 1955 to 1958 he was assign
ed to the Office of the Deputy
Chief of Staff for Operations,
Washington, D. C. He has been at
Thule since July 1958.
First Day Of School
Friday, August 28
-*
Pilot Injured
Boarding Ship
Capt. Robert Thompson,
member of the Wilmington
Cape Fear Pilots Association,
was painfully injured last
Wednesday morning when he
slipped on a tug from which
he was boarding a vessel and
twisted his knee.
The Southport man was in
Wilmington at the time and |
managed to get aboard the
ship and pilot her down the
Cape Fear. At the bar he
was able to make a painful
descent of the ladder, but
since that time he has been
on the injury list and still is
using crutches to get about.
Highway Folks
Outline Work
State Highway Commission
Gives Notice Of Projects
That Will Receive Pri
ority In Early Completion
The State Highway Commission
has approved and set up funds
for improvements to three Bruns
wick County roads, and an access
road.
Bituminous surrace treatment
will be placed on 2.4 miles of the
Civietown road 1132, from NC
130 to road 1130; and 0.3 mile of
road 1119, a part of Standbury
road, from road 1130 to 1128.
Sand asphalt has been placed on
0.71 mile of road 1347, from US
17 to a dead end. This is known
as Smith Avenue in Shallotte.
Also in Brunswick County, the
access road to Brunswick Town,
St. Phillips Church and Governor
Tryon’s Place will be graded and
stabilized.
Completion is expected during
the construction season, at an
estimated cost of $26,530.
Citizens of Brunswick and New
Hanover counties have been in
vited to attend a public hearing
tomorrow (Thursday) on import
ant road matters, according to
an announcement by Third Divi
sion Highway Engineer C. E.
Brown.
The meeting will be held at the
Highway Commission’s Division
office in Wilmington between the
hours of 10 a. m. and 12 noon,
when city and county officials
and the general public will have
an opportunity to discuss road
problems with representatives of
the State Highway Commission.
This is one of a series of meet
ings to be held in the Third I
Division. Other meetings are
planned for Burgaw, Clinton,
Jacksonville and Kennansville,
when persons in those areas will!
have an opportunity to present j
road requests, Brown said. 1
That Day Is For Teacher
Pupil Orienation And For
Registration; Classwork
Begins On Monday
PRINCIPALS ARE
ALREADY AT WORK
First Principals Meeting
Scheduled Thursday; Bus
Drivers Get Their Buss
es Wednesday Of
Ncjxt Week
Brunswick county schools will
open for the fall term on Friday,
August 28, according to announce
ment this week from county Su
perintendent John G. Long.
A meeting of all principals was
held here yesterday, and these
men have been at work since
Monday. Janitors will report for
duty next Monday, while teachers
will go to work on August 27,
one day before the students ar
rive.
School bus drivers will report
at the county garage at Shallotte
on Wednesday of next week to
receive their buses. A bus driver
license examiner will be on duty
at the garage next week, Monday
through Friday, to give road tests
to prospective bus drivers.
On Friday, the first day of
school, students will register,
books will be given out and as
signments will be made in order
that school may get off to a fair
start on Monday.
Superintendent Long reports
that the school plants are in
readiness for the opening school,
and preparations are being made
to take care of a record enroll
ment.
Announcement will be made
later regarding the date for the
first county-wide teachers meet
ing.
Zoning Meeting
Tuesday Night
Public Hearing Will Be
Held By Zoning Commis
sion At Barbee’s Inc., Of
fice On That Date
The new zoning commission of
the town of Yaupon Beach will
hold a public meeting on pro
posed zoning ordinances Tuesday
night, at 8 o’clock at Barbee’s,
Inc. office.
At this time regulations ten
tatively approved by the commis
sion will be open to inspection
and discussion. All interested resi
dents and freeholders of Yaupon
Beach are invited to attend. The
proposed ordinances also provide
for a building code and an in
spection service.
The first meeting of the com
mission was held August 15th,
and the ordinances presented by
Attorney Kirby Sullivan were
studied and amended.
Continued On Page Five
Name Committee
To Help Set Up
Fisheries Class
Group Of Interested Citiz
ens Met Monday Evening
To Discuss Possibilities
For New Course In High
School
PIONEER EFFORT IN
VOCATIONAL TRAINING
Objective Will Be To Equip
Boys For Making Better
Living From Seafood
And Related Jobs
Russell Swindell, coordinator of
commercial fishing education,
met here Monday evening with a
group of interested citizens and
school officials to lay plans for.
the special course which will be
added to the cirriculum at South- *
port high school this fall. I
Swindell, who works under the]
trade and industrial education di-.
vision of the N. C. Department of
Public Instruction, made it clear 1
that this is a pioneer effort in
North Carolina education, and he*
expressed the hope that every
thing possible will be done to'
make it successful.
Thomas C. Bowmer, who served*
last year as a member of the.
Southport High School faculty,'
will be instructor, and classes will!
be conducted in the new trades -
building that has been erected *
next to the Southport gymnasium.
An advisory committee, repre-"
senting different phases of the!
fishing industry, was appointed to
help set lip the program. These!
included James T. Barnes, named -
temporary chairman, Harry Sell, *
Hoyle Dosher, L. J. Hardee and!
J. B. Warth.
During a discussion of the pro-!
posed course of study, and its ob-*
jectives, attention was given to!
the importance of maintaining a
balance between theory and prac-'
tice. Credit will be given for this!
work, and it is hoped that several'
boys who have dropped out of
school in the past couple of years
will decide to return and complete
their high school work.
Also present for the meeting
was Dr. John Craver, technical
writer with the Industrial Edu
cation Division, who is preparing
some material for the Depart
ment of Education.
Former Teacher
Publishes Book
Miss Sara Bertha Townsend
Donates Copy Of “An
American Soldier — The
Life Of John Laurens’'
To Southport Public Li
brary
Miss Sara Bertha Townsend, a
former teacher of English in the
Southport high school, has pre
sented a copy of her book, “An
American Soldier—The Life of
John Laurens’’, to the Southport
Public Library.
It came this week to Miss Ger
trude Loughlin, who was a col
league of the author on the local
school faculty. Although the local
lady, who has served this summer
as acting librarian, recalls Miss
Townsend very pleasantly, most
of the information about her
came from the cover of her book,
which was published by Edwards
& Broughton. A portion of that
information follows:
“Sara Bertha Townsend was
born in North Carolina in Rob
eson County, where her people
Continued On Page Five
Tide Table
Following Is the tide table
for Southport during the next
week. These hours are ap
proximately correct and were
furnished The State Port Pilot
through the courtesy of ths
Cape Fear Pilot’s Association.
High Tide Low TMn
Thursday, August 20,
9:03 A. M. 2:50 A. M.
9:28 P. M. 3:05 P. M.
Friday, August 21,
9:46 A. M. 3:31 A. M.
10:08 P. M. 3:48 P. M.
Saturday, August 22,
1Q:29 A. M. 4:12 A. M.
10:47 P. M. 4:31 P. M.
Sunday, August 23,
11:11 A. M. 1:53 A. M.
11:28 P. M. 5:15 P. M.
Monday, August 24,
11:56 A. M. 5:36 A. M.
0:00 P. M. 6:02 P. M.
Tuesday, August 25,
0:11 A. M. 6:22 A. M.
12:43 P. M. 6:55 P. M.
Wednesday, August 26,
0:59 A. M. 7:12 A. M.
1:34 P. M. 7:51 P. M.
k